Der Narrenturm kann höchstens für den Kaiser panoptisch gewesen sein und auch dann nur, wenn dieser sich hinauf in das besagte Türmchen begab, um von dort das sich ausbreitende, von Staubwolken verhangene Weichbild der Stadt Wien zu betrachten.

I shall never forget my drives to the Hotel Bristol. In winter there are violets pinned to my muff; the snowflakes drift past and I think of Anna Karenina, but I am luckier than she because her happiness was paid for by others whereas any pain this liaison causes me is my own. In the autumn the chestnuts lining the Ringstrasse send down their bronze and russet leaves … But now, in May, the slanting sun turned the laburnums into a shower of gold - and it was all for me, the beauty of the evening: my Royal Triumph.